“An eight-foot wall isn’t high enough. All we want is a fair shake. Treat us with some respect.” Barney Drake, a Magnolia Trace resident.

A light industrial, office and commercial development, which has gone through ownership and other changes, moved closer to reality Wednesday night.The planning commission recommended that city council members approve the amended planned industrial district off Joe B Jackson with one major change.

It’s a season of walls

Thanks to Councilman Eddie Smotherman, who is also on the planning commission, Drake got an extra foot on a wall between the development and his home. Maybe it wasn’t all that he wanted, but even that result was a surprise to this jaded observer.

In all, residents living in the adjacent Magnolia Trace subdivision got some concessions but came away dissatisfied from Wednesday’s planning commission meeting.

The sad truth is that the neighborhood meeting and negotiations would be unnecessary if city leaders would only recognize a simple planning principle — residences and industrial uses don’t go together. Other communities know this.

There are some people in town who oppose growth entirely and would like to go back to quieter days — 1970 perhaps.

That has never been the view here at this site. Growth has brought us world class medical care, marvelous shopping options and events like the recent JazzFest on the square.

Planned vs. haphazard growth is issue

The real issue is whether we can grow in a planned way that doesn’t degrade our quality of life. Specifically, the question is whether we will provide the roads this growth requires or merely superimpose new housing on the existing infrastructure. That is the unfortunate path New Jersey followed in the area around New York City. Rapid growth there simply overwhelmed the roads and public services.

City council members confronted this issue last Thursday when two families petitioned the city to annex 285 acres of farmland so Parks Development can build 771 homes on 242 of those acres.

Now that the city has acquired the block between where Franklin Synergy Bank is located, it is asking for your advice on how best to redevelop the property.

Assistant City Manager Jennifer Moody outlined a program for city council last week to reach out to citizens for their views on the future of the block rather than passively waiting for people to email comments to city hall.

The fate of a historic former church at E College and N. College Streets appears brighter coming out of a city council workshop last night than it did going in.

The former Methodist church dates from 1888.

The future of the vacant church now rests solely with the council. A city deal to buy the property it sits on for $1.55 million from Franklin Synergy Bank closed last month. The bank will lease the property from the city until its Rutherford County headquarters building along Medical Center Parkway is completed.

If all developers wanted to be good citizens while making money, we could probably do away with the planning department and become libertarians. Unfortunately, pigs don’t fly, and hell hasn’t frozen over yet.

It was virtually the final round of a months long duel between a developer who wants to build as many as 270 apartment units off Manson Pike, and residents of the neighboring Brookwood subdivision. The latter are dead set against having that many apartments as neighbors.

The developer got the rezoning he needed to proceed, but one resident, Tammie Cleek, was still throwing high heat as city council neared the rezoning vote last night.

If you are ever in a dispute, and Cleek is on the other side, you might consider switching sides.

We know it’s a lot of work to prepare your speech, dress up and come to a council meeting for your three minutes of speaking fame. And more often than not the council members or planning commissioners listen politely and then ignore you.

Well, we’re here to end all that. Today we’re unveiling our long-awaited guide on how to win friends and influence people when you speak at city hall.